I don't think so. It's all a learning process. I have a few pieces of teaware I don't really need or use, but those are were gifted to me for the most part. I started out with the idea in mind to spend money on tea, not teaware persay. As long as it brews good tea I don't mind using cheaper stuff. Some expenses cannot be avoided however

I'm learning where to spend my limited TeaBudget.

Had the last of my sencha in stock this morning . Sippin' on some bush tea.

I voted for: I do not think so. Drinking tea for 20 something years, I never made a BIG mistake , to the best of my knowledge. For this chilly morning in florida, iam drinking a nice hot cuppa of yunnan noir black tea from adagio.

Last edited by boywoodhe on Oct 22nd, '11, 00:15, edited 1 time in total.

Can't think of any 'big' mistakes: when I was first getting started with tea I didn't have enough time or money to be able to make large, expensive errors. And when I finally started to explore more, I did so while studying some good books and sites like this one.

I do wish I'd started exploring more broadly sooner, and that I hadn't wasted so much effort on jasmines.....but I can't call those 'Big' mistakes.

Now enjoying one of the OTTI samples in my big Petr Novak chawan. Mmmm, very nice stuff. I want to finish a blind session of each before posting any results, however.

I definitely made BIG mistakes when starting out. I bought loads of sample tins from Adagio and gave away or threw away many of them. While the Chinese greens might not have been the equal of Jing, and the Japanese greens might not have been the equal of O-Cha's, I'm sure I could have coaxed some good tea out of those samples if I had better brewing advice.

Finishing up my second OTTI Sencha of the day. Both good, and I'm sure the second session of each will be even better.

I voted definitely. I bought A yixing tea set that I loved but then I forgot to remove wet tea leaves from the tea pot. Te tea pot now has an odd flavor that it imparts to every brew thus making it useful only as a decoration. Luckily it is an inexpensive slip-cast one so I am not out much money.

The most ridiculous one (which I've mentioned here before) was putting a 1/4 pound of stale jasmine tea into the garbage disposal -- should have composted it instead. It cost $135 dollars to have the drain cleared.

The most ridiculous one (which I've mentioned here before) was putting a 1/4 pound of stale jasmine tea into the garbage disposal -- should have composted it instead. It cost $135 dollars to have the drain cleared.

I'm working late so it's Hou de's shui xian this evening.

Oh, that is a doozie!

Definitely made lots of "BIG" mistakes. Big being the operative word. Big pots, BIGGER mugs, BIGGEST must be bestest, right??? Though I did pick up some nice big pieces.

This was long before TC was even a twinkle in Adagio's eye. I was flying solo and relying on the trustworthy vendors who were only too happy to oblige.

Also back then, samples were really hard to come by, so it was usually 4 ounces or nothing. I usually went with 4 ounces of sooooo many teas.

Pretty common mistakes?

Began the TD with Silver organic sencha from the O-C with the Mrs. Next up, Guricha from Xell. And finished off with Kame Gyokuro from the O-C. Great TD.

Mistakes? Nah. Hum...ok maybe buying glass teaware. After the first 2 glass pieces broke I should have just stopped. But went two more breakages before I decided glass is not very good back pack portable tea ware

some wuyi shui xian today at work, nice with this colder weather we are having